Ink - React for CLIs

React for CLIs. Build and test your CLI output using components.

Ink provides the same component-based UI building experience that React offers in the browser, but for command-line apps. It uses Yoga for Flexbox layouts in the terminal.

Important: All text must be wrapped in a

<Text>

component.

Quick Example

import {render, Text, Box} from 'ink';

render(
	<Box borderStyle="round" padding={1}>
		<Text color="green">Hello World</Text>
	</Box>
);

Components

• <Text>

  - Display text with styling (color, bold, italic, underline, etc.)

• <Box>

  - Flexbox container for layouts
  • Layout Properties - dimensions, flex, spacing, alignment
  • Visual Properties - borders, colors, backgrounds

• <Newline>

  - Insert newline characters

• <Spacer>

  - Flexible space that expands to fill available space

• <Static>

  - Permanently render output above everything else (for logs, completed tasks)

• <Transform>

  - Transform string representation before output

Hooks

Interaction

• useInput()

  - Handle keyboard input (arrow keys, enter, escape, etc.)

• useFocus()

  - Make components focusable with Tab key

• useFocusManager()

  - Programmatically manage focus

Lifecycle & Streams

• useApp()

  - Exit the app programmatically

• useStdin()

  - Access stdin stream and setRawMode

• useStdout()

  - Access stdout stream and write output

• useStderr()

  - Access stderr stream

Accessibility

• useIsScreenReaderEnabled()

  - Detect if screen reader is active

API

• render(tree, options?)

  - Mount and render your app
• Instance Methods - rerender(), unmount(), waitUntilExit(), clear()

• measureElement(ref)

  - Get width and height of a component

Guides

• Accessibility & Screen Readers - ARIA support, screen reader integration
• Testing - Test Ink components with ink-testing-library
• React DevTools - Debug with React DevTools

Third-Party Components

See references/third-party.md for a comprehensive list of community components including:

• Text inputs, spinners, select menus
• Progress bars, tables, charts
• Markdown rendering, syntax highlighting
• And many more